Katie Piper has bravely opened up about how her life changed after a horrific acid attack left her with permanent facial scarring and required more than 400 surgeries. Speaking candidly at a talk for her new memoir Still Beautiful, the Loose Women panellist revealed how the brutal assault stripped her of what she once believed was her greatest asset: her looks.

“In my twenties, I genuinely believed that my power came from being pretty,” Katie admitted. “Back then, I was treated differently. People listened more, doors opened faster. That all changed overnight.”

The attack in 2008, which was orchestrated by a man she was dating at the time, left her partially blind and with devastating injuries across her face, neck, and chest. It wasn’t just physical wounds Katie had to heal – she had to rebuild her sense of worth without the “pretty privilege” she once relied on.

“When a man throws acid at a woman, it’s to erase her power – to make her feel like she no longer has value in the world,” she said. But Katie refused to let the attack define her. “There’s so much more beyond what you see on the surface,” she declared. “I sit here now, the most powerful I’ve ever been.”

Now 41, Katie mentors other burn survivors and uses her voice to challenge beauty standards and inspire resilience. Through her writing and public appearances, she’s proving that strength and beauty can’t be burned away.